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Review of Unstoppable (Harry Gregson-Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you are incapable of overdosing on Harry
Gregson-Williams' sufficiently technological and basically rendered,
rhythmic thriller scores, regardless of the fact that they sound as
though they were written by a composer clearly on auto-pilot.
Avoid it... if you expect a score for a film about a runaway train to use appropriately creative samples relating to the railroad or, more importantly, any propulsive sense of progressive acceleration to match the growing intensity on screen.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Unstoppable: (Harry Gregson-Williams) Although
technically based upon true events that transpired in Ohio in 2001, Tony
Scott's train thriller Unstoppable bloats the dramatic aspects of
the event to unrealistic proportions for the purposes of cinematic
suspense. The incident in both cases involves a powered locomotive
(pulling tank cars with hazardous chemicals) that is accidentally
abandoned by its engineer while he attempts to disembark and change a
switch at low speeds. The runaway train picks up velocity and barrels
through the industrial belt of America while thwarting many attempts to
bring it under control. Intentionally derailing it and shooting it to
cut off the fuel supply were both considered and/or attempted and
depicted in Unstoppable, though the film also shows the necessary
scenes of destruction resulting from failed countermeasures. All the
cheap, expected Hollywood plot elements are inserted as well, including
a trailer stuck on the tracks, children on an oncoming passenger train,
a prime antagonist at the corporate level of the railroad, and a couple
of troubled engineers who redeem themselves by heroically saving the
day. The preparation for the production of Unstoppable wasn't
entirely smooth, with directors and lead stars coming and going before
director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington went along with Fox's
diminished budget for the picture (the latter having to be enticed back
once with a better compensation package). The final involvement of Scott
at the helm practically assured the continuation of his collaboration
with composer Harry Gregson-Williams as well, setting up a situation
similar to The Taking of Pelham 123. Stylistically, the genre is
extremely predictable for enthusiasts of Gregson-Williams' music,
soliciting the usual variety of electronically-propulsive loops and
occasional string ensemble accompaniment for character development. The
fact that the composer follows this formula so thoroughly for
Unstoppable has to be considered a disappointment given his
talent for creatively and impressively employing larger ensemble sounds.
The fact that there is absolutely nothing new to hear in this score is
also unfortunate because of all the potential, both rhythmically and in
the sampling of sounds, that a story about a runaway train can provide.
The strings in Unstoppable are supplemented by their synthetic
variants, piano, electric guitar, and Gregson-Williams' familiar (and
arguably tired) library of slapping, metallic looped sounds.
The vast collection of sampled sounds in the score for Unstoppable is sometimes changed in pitch to produce groaning effects and other expected variants, and the composer does alter rhythms, of course, to match the pace of each scene. But where is the application of situation-appropriate samples and score-wide maintenance of propulsive acceleration? Certainly, Gregson-Williams could have employed the sounds of trains amongst his normal supply of samples, and their absence is surprising and unacceptable. Also, while the narrative of the score is decently summarized by the application of its two themes, it doesn't generate its rhythmic movement in such a way as to suggest a gradual ratcheting up of tension or speed. The tapping, banging, and groaning loops at the start of the score move at the same pace as those at its climax, another curious and unacceptable choice given the potential this plot had for progressively intense music. One can't help but long for the days when Jerry Goldsmith would have used this occasion to carefully develop his palatable, but effective rhythms (and a full orchestra) with clear acceleration over an hour to mirror the film's title. That said, Unstoppable is basically sufficient is a less intellectually stimulating manner and thus won't really offend anybody on its album. That product doesn't actively impress, either, with its highlights ironically being the token moments of bare-bones character development. The two themes for the pair of heroes in the story are sufficiently warm but not particularly memorable outside of their capacity for reminding you of famous songs. They receive about equal treatment on album, both summarized in the easily digestible concluding cue, "Who Do I Kiss First?" The idea for Washington's character contains two parts, first presented in nimble seven-note phrases on strings and then yielding to a more melancholy interlude on piano. The two parts are typically presented together, rotating in "Frank Barnes," "Are You In or Are You Out?," and for the latter majority of "Who Do I Kiss First?," though the piano portion is heard alone at the end of "Realign the Switch." The other theme is a bit more nebulous, perhaps representing the film as a whole (its absence in "Will's Story" suggests that it may not be for Washington's co-star, Chris Pine). This theme's distinctive three-note phrases open "Stanton, PA" and "Who Do I Kiss First?" and gain traction as the score progresses (as in "Will Guides 1206"). All of these ideas are generic, and as softly pleasant as the ten minutes of thematic material can be on album, the half of hour of dissatisfying, boring suspense and action music in Unstoppable is, in fact, quite stoppable. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 42:15
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a short synopsis of the film, but no extra information
about the score or film.
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